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Perth-Coober Pedy | Coober Pedy - Birdsville | Life Around Birdsville | Birdsville - Kulgera | Kulgera - Perth

Kulgera to Perth

DAYS 25 - 28

Day 25	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Thursday 27/6/02	Bush camp - near Victory Downs	Walyina - abandoned bore	585.2 km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
0:58 hr	77.5 km/hr	7:33 hr	96.7 km/hr

At camp this morning David replaced the rear shocks. We kept the old ones back in the box that the new ones came in and kept them until we found a decent rubbish disposal (this ended up being at home).

Our camp was only average because it was a bit close to the road - and the road is well used. The passing traffic was mostly tourists, farmers and aboriginals. It's not an easy place to find a decent bush camp and we had to follow a dry creek bed, push through some spinifex to find a clearing large enough for our single vehicle camp. 

Even with the morning repairs we still managed to get a decent start on the day, departing at 10.06am. At 11.50am we had reached Mulga Park, now a store open to tourists at the junction of the turnoff to Mulga - Giles Road. Here we turned left, where the general traffic would turn right to go into Uluru via Curtain Springs. We spent considerable effort organising our permit to travel this track and was surprised to find no sign on the road advising travellers that it was a restricted road, permit required etc. It really makes you wonder how they enforce permits if you wouldn't know you were doing the wrong thing by just following the road? This obviously needs further investigation on my behalf.

Even still, every 500m we saw wrecked vehicles - some recent, some almost vintage! There were so many that it almost became laughable.

The first of the communities that we came across was Amata Community. This consists of 40-50 buildings, many new and quite tidy and impressive. The community was built at the base of a magnificent mountain range with some of the best views I've ever seen in central Australia. Either we were spell bound by the views or the roads are not well marked but from here we took a few wrong turns. Thankfully with the GPS we worked out our error and back tracked, knowing we should have been heading further west towards Wintawatu.

The 3rd community we passed was Nyapari - a small but very pleasant community. The 4 rules of the community are displayed on a large sign on the entrance road - here's a snapshot of it for you to work out. Obviously, "wiya" means "no"!

The 4th community, Kanpi, is also small and neat. It also advocates the same 4 rules with another yellow sign well displayed on the entrance road.

Our permit was for transit purposes only and our reasons for obtaining it were to return home to Perth via the most direct route. We did not request access into the communities - these are rarely granted and we did not plan to camp en route. I have had numerous enquiries as to how we had our permit granted but all I can say is we were patient, polite and persistent. The permit was not fully approved until the day we started driving along the route - so having a satellite phone proved handy.

The Mulga-Giles Road actually skirts around Mt Davies and many of Len Beadell's markers on this route use Mt Davies as a navigational point.

The Kalka Community lies at the base of the Tomkinson Ranges and is much like the other small but neat communities in the region. The aboriginals love their football and this community had a fabulous AFL field with night lights!

We would loved to have continued following this route further west through the Blackstone ranges but from Wingellina access is strictly denied. Blackstone is situated between the western and great Victorian deserts and is the home of the Papulankutja aboriginal community. This area is like a small oasis where bush tuckers are in plentiful supply and the aboriginal people can retain their culture and speak their native language (Ngaanyatjarra) without the elements of a western culture. No alcohol or drugs are permitted and it's remote location has enabled this to be enforced.

We had a brief look at Surveyor Generals Corner as it was nearing dusk and then started tracking north up towards Giles/Warakurna. 

Within the next hour we saw 8 camels spread across 3 sightings. This track is much softer and the area much denser. There is certainly not as much traffic using this part of the Mulga-Giles Road. We knew we could not make it to Giles before dark and we prefer to bush camp rather than take camps at roadhouses so there was no need to push on to Warakurna. 

Bush camps by the side of the road here are impossible. Spinifex crowds the track and the only clearings are those caused by bush fire. The only possible option along the entire track between Wingellina and Giles that we could find was the bore track at Walyina. This will be marked with GPS points in the new trek note to be written in upcoming weeks.

Day 26	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Friday 28/6/02	Walyina	Terhan Rockhole	513.7 km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
2:06 hr	81.7 km/hr	6:17 hr	101.3 km/hr

When we awoke it was the first time we'd seen our campsite in the daylight as it was dark when we arrived last night. We looked around briefly for the bore and found it by the side of the track on the way out, but we didn't explore the large area where we were camped. The terrain was quite different and I suspect there could be rockholes and it possibly might be an area of significance to the aboriginals so we didn't linger around. We were still travelling on SA time so our very late start at 9.50am was really 8.20am on WA time and sun time. Again, we passed more camels - 12 in this mornings group. This last section of road was being graded but I don't know whether the grader would go all the way down to Wingellina.

We have stopped overnight at Warakurna on a previous trip and done a visit to the Giles Meteorological Station so we didn't linger in the area. I had a quick look inside the roadhouse to see if much had changed and found that although it appears lightly stocked on first glance it is actually quite cleverly stocked with supplies. You can purchase from a small range of fresh vegetables, frozen meat (quite a range), bread, milk, toiletries and fast foods such as ice-creams, softdrinks but very little chocolate!! They also stock a full range of general light hardware, but had sold out of sunglasses. I had lost mine back at Dalhousie Springs and was getting quite desperate.

We continued along the Great Central Road and planned to find a few of the rockholes marked on the Hema GDT maps. We've never been along this road, having previously come through the area to the north along the abandoned section of the Gunbarrell so although we were trying to get home, we also wanted to make the drive worthwhile.

Between Warakurna and Warbuton we passed another 5 camels spread across 2 sightings, bringing today's count up to 17. We we did the Gunbarell we didn't come into Warburton so this was also our first glance at it. Warburton is just a roadhouse, but it fully caters for 4WD travellers. The roadhouse is fully stocked with general hardware and camping supplies plus has long range food for travellers. I was surprised at the quality and range of meat (frozen) and vegetables and fruit. Warbuton also services a continuous stream of aboriginal trade and so there are many frozen pre-prepared meals, lollies, tubs of ice-cream and hot fast food including hot pies and chips. Out the front the bowsers are locked in cages and there are signs on each cage explaining that photos are not to be taken of bowsers and they have no eftpos facilities but do take visa, mastercard and bankcard. Outside the roadhouse is a full set of tyre changing tools and air hoses bolted on chains that is free to use. I've never seen this offered in this way before but its a great idea.

Besides the roadhouse is a large grassed camping area behind a locked gate. The toilets and showers are in a cubicle adjacent to the roadhouse and David even found Sorbolene hand cream in the men's room. Both men's and women's toilets had soap, hot hand dryers and showers.

A new council building adjacent to the roadhouse contains the Tjulyuru Art Gallery, which is uses state-of-the-art technology. The gallery use motion-sensors to turn on lighting for each painting and is not manned. The gallery contains paintings done by local artists, many of them dating back to mission times - the theme of this gallery. A preservation room, complete with independent air conditioning. lighting and sealed boxes for each photograph, which holds a visual history of the Warburton Mission period, 1933-1973.

WA time was 12.45 when we left Tjulyuru making it a 4 ½ hr trip so far. We saw another 5 camels just out of town and then began exploring the numerous tracks leading to rockholes along this section of road. We found every hole marked on the Hema GDT maps and have pinpointed the exact GPS positions of each, including the location of the turnoffs. The turnoffs from the Great Central Road are the hardest to find because the road is regularly graded so you can't very well just pick up tyre tracks. We had plotted waypoints using OziExplorer and the GDT maps for each rockhole and uploaded these to the GPS, we then just headed off the main road at roughly the right point, taking either water run off drains or road digging tips. Some rockholes were up to 2km off the main road and many have not been explored for quite some time.

We explored 4 rockholes during the afternoon and found our campsite on tracks behind Terhan Rockhole just east of Tjukayrila.

Day 27	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Saturday 29/6/02	Terhan Rockhole	Goongarrie Station NP	616.2 km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
1:36 hr	85.9 km/hr	7:10 hr	107.0 km/hr

Today would be our last day on the Great Central Road and we know that tar and the real world is not far away. A bit depressing really...

Tjukaryrila is the last fuel service for the next 310km to Laverton, pronounced Lay-ver-ton, but the main road bypasses the township.

The David Carnegie Road is still well signposted on the RHS, rating it as a 4WD only track. 60km along this track is the Express Spring, but unfortunately we didn't plan to make all the possible diversions from the route to Laverton (otherwise we'd never get home) so we didn't head up to the spring.... next time!!!

The Beegull Waterholes and Caves on the left hand side of the track can be clearly seen by a white Christian cross on the top of a hill. This cross is just a symbol of peace that has been placed there in recent times but the site contains traditional aboriginal rock paintings in the cave. It has had some vandalism, but you can still make out some good art.

The highlight of the day however, would have to be our excursion south along the Pt Sunday track on the left hand side. We had passed the southern end of the Pt Sunday track a few weeks earlier on the Anne Beadell so this was the northern end of it. The sign marking the turnoff has been vandalised and moved so the track we followed was overgrown but it eventually joined up to the correct path. We continued south along the track for about 5km and found a well marked intersection with distances to Laverton and Yemarna (on the Anne Beadell). We considered continuing on but since we have never completed the full length of the Great Central Road we really need to stick to our plan for the purposes of work. Rather than back-track however, we plotted a triangular route back up to the Great Central Road. The route was almost impassable and we found ourselves coming to the back of a sign (facing the other way) "Road Closed". It had been purposely cut up by road digging machinery and left to become overgrown. We were able to pick up another track and make our way out to the main road so it was a bit of fun and now we know what's there.

There are various P-bays (roadside parking bays) along the Great Central Road but we certainly would not choose any of them for a camping spot. They are very close to the road and provide no protection. OK if you're in a caravan I suppose, but not the choice for tent campers.

Not far out of Laverton we passed the quarantine bin. It is an unmanned location so its an honesty system with clear instructions. We also picked up mobile phone coverage again marking the start of the real world again. The last few days of a great remote trip are always a bit depressing. We are tempted to turn back around...

Laverton was buzzing today with markets and people everywhere so we stopped and had lunch in the sun at the park. Rather than drive through Leonora we picked up a bypass route along the "Old Laverton Road that heads south through Kookyine before meeting the Goldfields Highway 198km north of Kalgoorlie. 

We picked camp at Goongarrie Station National Park (off the Goldfields Highway) that has ruins, rubble and graves and is well marked. We made it a fantastic last night camp for the trip.

Day 28	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Sunday 30/6/02	Goongarrie Stn NP	Perth (home)	698.6 km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
0:40 hr	92.9 km/hr	7:31 hr	110.0 km/hr

 Our final day of our trip, but just a zoom home along the highways to Kalgoorlie and then to Perth. Our camp was 90km north of Kal but we made it to Southern Cross by 11.40am. We were home in our driveway by mid afternoon.

Our total trip was 7046.5km. We had no tyre troubles and no health problems but had to replace 2 rear shocks. I've tried to include as many statistics and details as possible in this diary but this is just a preliminary report that will be further detailed on the ExplorOz website and compiled into trek notes for the relevant areas.

For more info on our vehicle setup please read the Vehicle Setup Feature.
For more info on our GPS setup please read here.

More info will be compiled into the relevant sections of our Trip Preparation pages for Travelling with Kids and also for Communications - in relation to the Bushfone service through RadioData and the Satelitte phone we used (Iridium) in the coming weeks.

Thanks everyone for your support - hope this whets your appetite for travelling!

Michelle Jacka